Our first big hike. We chose to drive 2+ hrs under GNP rather than drive 2+ hrs on the Going to the Sun Road to get to Many Glacier and hike to Grinnell Glacier. While the GtS Rd is beautiful, it also has steep grades and is gravel in some places. We hoped the road under GNP would be more friendly to our big van. Thankfully we did not have the steep grades, but the road was very curvy, part of it was gravel and we were starting to wonder why we hadn’t just gone through the park when we saw:
Yes, we saw bushes, but before I took the picture of the bushes, we saw a bear!!!! You can just barely see it in there if you look carefully. It was running full speed along the shoulder of the road toward us. We were SOOOOO excited!! Then I remembered my camera, snapped a picture and got…bushes. Major bummer. But I was ready for the next animal. This moose was really moving!
The Grinnell Glacier hike is roughly 10.5 miles round trip, and like many of the hikes at GNP, you hike the same trail twice – once heading in, and then to hike back out (so the actual trail is just over 5 miles). It has nearly everything you could want in a hike – mountains of course, but right on top of beautiful emerald lakes, woods, narrow waterfalls and a glacier at the end. Naturally, you don’t get all this beauty easily. This hike has an elevation gain of 1,700 ft. Not easy. at. all. But awe-inspiringly beautiful.
While we did come across people occasionally on this hike, we had long stretches of being “alone” (if 7 people can ever be alone). The solitary hiking led to some pretty humorous exchanges because the kids (and adults) felt comfortable being goofy, knowing no one would hear them. It also lead to some pretty fantastic praise singing :). Usually Kayla or Lucas would start up a Praise Song and a bunch of us would join in while we looked at the majesty around us. Can it get any better than that?
We walked through woods, snow, & waterfalls. We proved that 11 year old boys CANNOT walk past water without soaking themselves.
Now, scroll back to the mountain picture at the beginning of the post. See the tiny waterfall on the right side? Yep, this is it. We climbed until we were above the incredibly tall waterfall and up to what looks like a snow bank, but is actually a glacier.
This is where I suffered my only disappointment in GNP. I expected the glacier to be a massive ice mountain that I could virtually see my reflection in (probably due to watching too much Frozen). I was bummed to just see lots of snow. I was also exhausted. I’m not used to hiking up 1700 ft at 7000 ft. We stayed around to soak in the breeze off the glacier (it was 80+ degrees), take a bunch of pictures and eat some snacks.
You would think our return trip would be a bit boring because we’ve already walked the trail, right? Actually, I found myself enjoying the views more for 2 reasons :
1) the hike was much easier because we were heading downhill. And
2) we were at the highest part of our hike looking down at the mountains and lakes we had hiked past on our way there.
Isn’t that just GORGEOUS!!?!! And check out these beautiful flowers!!!
For supper we stopped at a local restaurant near Many Glacier that oozed loads of local flair – including indoor and outdoor displays of license plates from every state (and many countries inside) and a sign that my children loved:
Next up – Hiking with kids.
Yes, we saw bushes, but before I took the picture of the bushes, we saw a bear!!!! You can just barely see it in there if you look carefully. It was running full speed along the shoulder of the road toward us. We were SOOOOO excited!! Then I remembered my camera, snapped a picture and got…bushes. Major bummer. But I was ready for the next animal. This moose was really moving!
The Grinnell Glacier hike is roughly 10.5 miles round trip, and like many of the hikes at GNP, you hike the same trail twice – once heading in, and then to hike back out (so the actual trail is just over 5 miles). It has nearly everything you could want in a hike – mountains of course, but right on top of beautiful emerald lakes, woods, narrow waterfalls and a glacier at the end. Naturally, you don’t get all this beauty easily. This hike has an elevation gain of 1,700 ft. Not easy. at. all. But awe-inspiringly beautiful.
While we did come across people occasionally on this hike, we had long stretches of being “alone” (if 7 people can ever be alone). The solitary hiking led to some pretty humorous exchanges because the kids (and adults) felt comfortable being goofy, knowing no one would hear them. It also lead to some pretty fantastic praise singing :). Usually Kayla or Lucas would start up a Praise Song and a bunch of us would join in while we looked at the majesty around us. Can it get any better than that?
We walked through woods, snow, & waterfalls. We proved that 11 year old boys CANNOT walk past water without soaking themselves.
Now, scroll back to the mountain picture at the beginning of the post. See the tiny waterfall on the right side? Yep, this is it. We climbed until we were above the incredibly tall waterfall and up to what looks like a snow bank, but is actually a glacier.
This is where I suffered my only disappointment in GNP. I expected the glacier to be a massive ice mountain that I could virtually see my reflection in (probably due to watching too much Frozen). I was bummed to just see lots of snow. I was also exhausted. I’m not used to hiking up 1700 ft at 7000 ft. We stayed around to soak in the breeze off the glacier (it was 80+ degrees), take a bunch of pictures and eat some snacks.
You would think our return trip would be a bit boring because we’ve already walked the trail, right? Actually, I found myself enjoying the views more for 2 reasons :
1) the hike was much easier because we were heading downhill. And
2) we were at the highest part of our hike looking down at the mountains and lakes we had hiked past on our way there.
Isn’t that just GORGEOUS!!?!! And check out these beautiful flowers!!!
For supper we stopped at a local restaurant near Many Glacier that oozed loads of local flair – including indoor and outdoor displays of license plates from every state (and many countries inside) and a sign that my children loved:
Next up – Hiking with kids.
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